SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Double check your pay stub.
2020 has dawned, and so, too, has Illinois’s new minimum wage rate of $9.25 an hour.
The Illinois Department of Labor said it expects employees to remember that, but they need to make sure their employers remember, as well.
“We expect compliance with all employers regarding minimum wage, but we just want to remind the workers to maybe check their check to make sure they have received the new minimum wage,” said IDOL Director Michael Kleinik.
Kleinik said the math could get tricky since the new rate began right on January 1.
“If you had some work done in 2019, it would still be the old minimum wage of $8.25,” he said.
“But, anything into 2020 is when the new minimum wage at $9.25 kicks in.”
Illinois last increased minimum wage in 2010, when the $8.25 an hour rate was set after a series of years of 25-cent incremental increases.
A similar situation is set to take place between 2020 and 2025, with the rate scheduled to increase to $10 on July 1, 2020, and then $1 per year until 2025, when it will be set at $15 an hour.
As of Jan. 1, 2020, approximately 1.4 million Illinoisans were working for minimum wage.
